Be Truthful

One of the Buddha’s teachings is to be truthful. This is important for human beings as we live in social groups. We have to be truthful to ourselves and others, because, if we aren’t, it will cause problems and conflict in our community. In reality, it is not right to lie or give wrong information to each other. A lie is a lie; it cannot remain hidden forever, for some day it will be revealed and destroy the one who told the lie. There is a Chinese story which exemplifies this well. Here is the story:

In the reign of King Chuan in the Kingdom of Chi, King Chuan liked music and there was a good flute band which performed beautiful music. King Chuan always asked for this band to perform. There was once a man, named NanKau, who saw the opportunity to earn money and make a good living, so he lied to the king in order to join the band. In fact, Nankau could not play any musical instrument. Every time the musical performance took place in front of King Chuan, he pretended to play as a professional, so that could earn an easy living for many years.

When King Chuan died, his son, Prince Mern was crowned king. And because the new king knew much about flute-playing he did not like the band performing music. He preferred instead individuals to play solo flute. He asked the flute players to perform one after the other. When Nankau found this out, he knew he had to leave the band without notice because if it was discovered that he had lied to the king, he would be executed.

This story shows that a lie cannot be hidden. Some day it will be discovered, as in the story. So we must be truthful to ourselves and others. It is said that the truth never dies. It is true-things like the Dhamma of the Buddha which constitutes the truth, and consequently never dies. It can be used without limitation of time and place. You can learn some Dhamma which is suitable for your life, and live by it. It may improve your way of life. It is worth trying, as it is true, useful and helpful. "Come and see for yourself".